HAUNTED

21

Lex followed him out and they had something to eat then they each went into their own separate worlds of thought. She tried to figure out how to trigger the gismo to do whatever it is supposed to do while he tried to figure out if she was still resistant to the virus which he had very little of left.

Jacob wasn’t actually infected. He was the product of two already shifted beings, thus, he was the product of the creature created by the virus but not the virus thus he had next to none of it in his veins. His phone rang.

“Hi mom,” he said first.

“So,” William hoped to pick up where they had left off.

“Dad,” he complained, “she’s amazing,” he thought of her for a clean moment. She was in her room eyeing the gismo in thought. “But we aren’t… not in that way… I mean we were once… in another life… not this one.”

“What’s going on? You found her. And?! Any answers?”

“She is just as confused as me,” he took some notes on her bloods reaction, “but there have been some new developments.”

“Be careful okay. Don’t get yourself killed.”

“I won’t,” he hoped he won’t, “are Nan and Jack back?”

“No, but it’s been too long,” William spoke nostalgically.

“Yeah,” he too spoke longingly for that past.

“Well, don’t be a stranger son. Your mother really misses you,” he wouldn’t admit that he did too. Jacob smiled.

“I’ll come visit some time.”

“Visit?! No, you will be staying,” he chuckled for a bit, “I know you are trying to find yourself but remember not to lose yourself in the process.”

“I will remember,” he thought of this life. He had parents who cared. Every moment of his existence they were there smothering him. He remembered getting taught how to drive. He remembered his fights with them about silly things that built him. “Dad, no matter what stay safe.”

“Are you in trouble?” William noted the hint in his tone

“Not yet.”

“You would tell me if you were?”

“Yes… I would.” He lied. He would rather have them safe and alive than in trouble with him.

“Good.” The conversation stretched on for a moment then he got to work. Tried failed and tried again, failed again.

She grew bored of thinking and thinking when she was clueless to begin with … I always seem to be… she got up from John’s old people couch, took a breath and head for the only other entertainment in the house… Jacob.

Space and time, she thought one stair at a time. She paused and looked at it, I am so stupid, she thought, Jacob breaks through space when he teleports, “what if… what if…” she ran up the remaining stairs burst through his door.

Startled he rose winged and ready for battle, “it’s you,” he said in an outward breath.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she said he smiled and returned to his seat.

“You need to learn to knock,” he replied playfully.

“I have an idea.”

“huh?”

“Space and time,” she said as her face lit up. She was so certain she had it figured out. He just looked kind of confused, “you defy space when you teleport or worp or whatever right?”

“I guess so.” He returned his attention to his sciency stuff.

“Then this is probably something to help you teleport through time.”

“Probably,” not too excited by the idea.

“We could...” he could see where she was going with this.

“We?” he turned to face her, “No. Time travel is something you don’t mess with. Not only because it’s confusing but its destructive and impractical.”

“You have done it before, haven’t you?”

“No. I haven’t. I just… tried,” he sighed.

“Did you use this?” she completely ignored the hint of frustration in his voice.

“No.”

“Then that’s why it didn’t work.”

He turned away. “the past does not exist anymore,” he thought about the accident with her parents from this life. She walked towards him and squeezed his shoulder. Like she knew and it scared him speechless.

“Then let’s see the future,” there was a short silence not more than a second or two, “let’s see what happens if we chose to do nothing.”

He took a breath, “Let’s not try time travel today.”

“I am not immune, am I?” she said finally picking up his frustration.

“I don’t know,” he touched her hand on his shoulder and closed his eyes for a moment savouring her comfort, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Maybe I must be dying for it to work,” she just blankly suggested without any thought. His eyes flung open and his grip on her hand tightened.

He looked at her and smiled, “you have some messed up ideas today.”

“Sorry,” she walked away and sat on the edge of his bed with the gismo still in hand, “we are supposed to do something. I feel like we are the only ones who can. Otherwise all this would have been for nothing. This can’t be for nothing.” She shook her head slightly.

“I just feel old,” she breathed out defeated. He smiled, he did too. He stood up and sat next to her.

“Let me try,” she gave him the gismo. He took a breath.

“Scared?” she asked, he did not respond, “me too.” She responded to his silence. “You didn’t make this for nothing. There could be answers on the other side.”

“Promise not to come with me now.”

“Why? If something happens I could help.”

“If something happens to you…” he stopped.

“Into next week,” she awkwardly changed the topic. He stood up.

“Sure, why not. If I die I will just kill you in our next life.” She took his hand, the one with the gismo in it, and faced it upward. Her inner palm on his outer palm and the gismo on his inner palm.

“see the double pointed arrow etched under the main button at the top,” he nodded looking at her looking at the gismo with unwavering focus, “clockwise direction should be future and anticlockwise past.”

“Should be…” he reminded her of the multiple uncertainties associated with this. She looked up at him for a moment. Worried about what she was getting him into.

“From the outside in: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. The main notches aligned must be zero from now. I figured because of the number of notches, the first two 60 each then 24, 7, 52, 12, and 80 I guess it was as many as you could fit.” She made sure it was off, “the knobs obviously… uhm… set the gismo to the necessary time.” She had all afternoon and that’s all she had made sense of.

He switched it on. She set the weird clock to next week same time same day.

“When you teleport you said that you think about where you are going but you haven’t seen the future yet so try to blank your mind.”

“Very hard to do with you right here,” with a calm half smile on his face.

She turned away to hide her blush.

She walked round in front of him. “just for a minute.”

“Okay. If I am not back by a minute, then…”

“This is why I should come with you.”

“No, I need you safe.”

“Let’s not do this,” she said, “I need you safe,” He smiled.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Push the nob in. Now.” he did and he worped.

“One minute,” she whispered and paced. She saw it fall and hit the ground, “How?!”